First Person Museum Captions, Revised

Here is the final version of the caption that will accompany Iris's black dolls, objects to be exhibited at the First Person Museum.


About Representation

Early mass-produced black dolls introduced or reinforced negative racial stereotypes, like the “mammy.” Later, when companies sold black dolls as darkly painted versions of their white counterparts, blacks handmade dolls because toy companies did not produce figures with ethnically correct features. Today, hand-made black dolls are highly sought by collectors.